Match Preview: Nottingham Forest v Newcastle

Newcastle travel to Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night in the third round of the Carling Cup (7.45pm kick-off).

A Sammy Ameobi strike in extra-time saw the Magpies defeat Scunthorpe in the last round, while Forest have progressed to this stage with victories over neighbours Notts County and Wycombe Wanderers.

STAT ATTACKTuesday's game is the 107th match between the two clubs, and the third in the League Cup. United lost 1-0 on their last visit to the City Ground in October 2009 and also lost the last cup tie between the two teams, a fourth round FA Cup game at St. James Park in 1997, 2-1.

TICKET NEWSNewcastle have been allocated the Bridgford Stand Lower Tier at the City Ground, which has a capacity of 4,500.

TEAM NEWSNottingham Forest - Forest are without full-back Chris Cohen, who suffered a knee injury at the weekend, and he joins Dexter Blackstock, Garath McCleary, Paul Anderson and George Boateng on the sidelines.

Newcastle - Hatem Ben Arfa is expected to feature for the Magpies, in what will be his first competitive action since October 2010 following a broken leg and an ankle injury. Fringe players including James Perch, Danny Guthrie, Peter Lovenkrands and Rob Elliot could also be involved at the City Ground. Davide Santon (knee), Mike Williamson (ankle) and Haris Vuckic (hand) remain out.

A WORD FROM BOTH CAMPSSteve McLaren, Nottingham Forest manager: "It will be a long time before we can go out in Nottingham again - and rightly so. But we have the chance to regroup when we play Newcastle in the Carling Cup, and, whoever shows up, we have to produce a performance to be proud of."It is very difficult to change the team when you have no players to do that with. When you get a few injuries, the squad becomes thin. We will have to see what team we can put out."

Alan Pardew, Newcastle manager: "It's a competition we feel we can do well in. We've got a lot of players who haven't featured and are desperate to show their wares, so to speak."I look forward to seeing one or two of them on the pitch.